Obsession
by Kuruk
Summary: All the new Fon Master does is read from dusty tomes, chasing the fleeting image of her beloved. They don't recognize her. Not anymore. —Anise/Ion.


_Hello all, I'm Kuruk. _

_I first played TotA a few years ago, but I replayed it recently and this oneshot came to mind... Please be warned that this is very, very OOC, but I think it is possible. There are spoilers so if you haven't beaten the game don't read it._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing._

_I hope you like it. :)_

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_**Obsession**_

They don't recognize her anymore.

She used to be vibrant with energy, prickling with stinging wit well beyond her years. She used to love money and do anything to get it. She was funny, and she was a _child_, no matter how old she got.

"_To trespass in the realm of the dead is a crime against humanity. Those that do so, regardless of their status or rank, will be brought before a tribunal of maestros of the Order of Lorelei. If found guilty, the punishment is death."_

They don't understand.

After Ion died she had lost a part of herself-- it was plain to see. Her smile wasn't as bright and her efforts lackluster. They had understood that, even expected it to weigh her down all her life. But never to this extent.

She never smiles anymore, never laughs or cries or screams. She just sits in her secret library and reads aloud things only she can understand. Daathic fonic artes that only a Fon Master can use. Her domain.

"_The fonic glyph must be drawn precisely and without error, or the fonons that gather will turn destructive. If this occurs, there is a high probability that the result will be fatal."_

Tear checks in on her every once in a while, locked in the Fon Master's secret library--the very one she had searched tirelessly for after achieving her goal. The Seventh Fonist sits in an unoccupied chair, watching as her former friend scours each text obsessively, reading the passages aloud.

She used to speak to her-- about the task she had charged herself with upon becoming Fon Master. She would talk about how the reforms were going, how slowly but surely, Auldrant was weaned off the Score.

Now, though, Tear has long stopped speaking to someone who doesn't even realize she's present. Instead, she watches her, watches her for a half hour every day before silently leaving the room.

_"This arte is not meant to create new life, but to recreate life for those that have passed on from this world. Theoretically, by drawing upon the Seven fonons, a bridge between this world and the afterlife will be formed. In theory, the fonist will then be able to pull a spirit back from the afterlife."_

Jade had raised an eyebrow when she had requested a replica made.

The ban on fomicry applied to the creation of living beings, but what she had requested wasn't alive. A body, she had said. All she needed was a body. The Colonel had perhaps thought it a bit unhealthy, but who was he to stop her? They no longer shared the relationship they did years ago, and it wasn't his place to question her.

Besides, he knew that if he refused, she would find another way to get what she wanted. Possessing a doll like that was both perhaps insane and unhealthy, but not illegal. It could be done, he had said, and a month later he delivered it to her.

_"The mastery of fonology and Daathic fonic artes required is immense. Of all attempts chronicled, none have succeeded, most resulting in the fatality of the fonist."_

Natalia had thought that with Anise as Fon Master, Auldrant could achieve a level of peace never before seen. Surely with Jade advising Emperor Peony and her heading the Order of Lorelei a partnership could be forged among them in order to cleave a better world...

But no one ever saw her. She would send maestros to represent the Order, and every attempt Natalia had made to contact her ended with the same result-- Tear telling her that the Fon Master was occupied, and that she had no time to reply.

To the princess, this apathetic distance from the world was more than just a betrayal to her friends, but a betrayal to their countries. For that, she could never forgive her.

_"The fonist will step into the fonic glyph and chant the incantation. As the fonons gather within the glyph, the fonist must wait until these clusters become sentient. It is only then that enough power will be gathered to complete the arte."_

Luke worries about her.

When he has enough time, he visits Daath and has Tear take him to where she is, bent over dusty tomes, reciting words in a hoarse voice that doesn't sound like the girl they knew at all.

He speaks to her, though. He's the only one who does. He tells her about life as a duke and about foreign affairs and about his life as Tear watches silently from her corner.

He worries about her, and he wishes with all of his being that he could give her what she wanted. That would surely cure her-- change her back into the girl they'd once known. Everything would be back to normal. He would do it in an instant if he could.

But he can't-- it is impossible, after all, even for 'the light of the sacred flame'...

_"Once sentience is attained by each cluster of fonons, the fonist must draw upon each simultaneously and focus this power in a single point. It is at that point that the gate will be created."_

Guy visited her once.

Back then it wasn't nearly as bad as it was now-- she had talked to him for a bit, and laughed and joked about the time they had spent together. Still, he saw how skinny she had become, how her skin and hair had become oily and how dark bags had formed under her now dull brown eyes. How her tan had faded, and how she had become deathly pale.

It wasn't in his nature to abandon a friend, but whenever he saw her he felt a stab in his chest, and Guy knew that he couldn't save her, and that she didn't need him.

So he had left, and never gone back.

_"The fonist must actively work to keep the gate stabilized. If this is not done, the rift-- a literal tear in time and space, could grow out of control and consume the entire world."_

Florian wishes he was Ion.

It would be much simpler then, if he could be the one she wanted with all her heart. Whenever he saw her, Florian could feel a pain deep in his heart. He could almost feel her pain, her despair...

He wishes that he would've faded instead of him, that Mohs had forced him to read the Seventh Fonstone. She would be happy then and Florian knew that if she was happy, then wherever he'd be, he would be happy as well.

_"Once the gate is stable, the fonist must concentrate on the spirit he wishes to revive. This will summon it forth, and once it is in this world, the gate must be closed and the spirit bound to an adequate vessel."_

She doesn't know how it got this bad.

Ion. She had always missed him, always felt a horrible guilt whenever she remembered his voice, his smile, his words. She had wanted to do what he had desired-- to bring reform to the Order. That's why she had become Fon Master, so that she could fulfill his dreams...

But then she discovered this library, and she had heard of a Daathic fonic arte that could restore the dead to life. She hadn't become this way at first. She had distanced herself, focused on doing what Ion had wanted...

But he had haunted her sleep. She saw him everywhere in the cathedral, begging her to try, to see him again...

Deep down, she _knew_ Ion wouldn't want that.

The thing was, _she did._

_"This technique is uncertain and ridden with errors. To attempt this--"_

She stops reading. She doesn't need a warning.

Finally, she steps into the glyph, and taking a deep, weary breath, begins to chant.

Beneath her, the glyph sparks to life in a blue shine, and excitement runs through her for the first time in years. Pieces of her old self return to her-- determination and energy, and coupled with the feeling that never left, that deep, hurtful love, she presses on, each foreign syllable rolling off her tongue without error.

She can feel the air around her crackling with fonons, feels them vibrating... Ion, Ion, Ion... it's all she can think as the air grows heavy, and as new colors fill the room, casting all manner of shadows among the forbidden lair.

Her heart beats in her chest uncontrollably, but her breathing stays level. Her body begins to shudder as the air crackles with power...

Almost there... almost there...

Grasping at the power, she coaxes it towards the air in front of her. The lights swirl and swirl before her. Promising in their beauty...

Ion...

A slip of her hand, a crackle of energy. One error... her eyes widen in dread.

An explosion sends her flying backwards and into a bookshelf. Fire eats at all this knowledge, and she screeches as the glyph is torn apart, and the tome with all that knowledge catches aflame...

_Ion, Ion, Ion!_

Her mind screams this at her, and she sinks onto the floor, begging for forgiveness from a master who cannot hear her as the flames spread across the books all around her, sealing her escape.

The Fon Master of the Order of Lorelei lets the flames lick at her skin and the smoke burn her throat. Because she can see him now-- smiling that beautiful smile of his. "I love you," he says, "I forgive you, my most cherished friend."

She goes to him and holds him. He's real, she can feel him, smell him... It's not a dream this time. "Oh, Ion," she murmurs into his robe.

This time, she doesn't let go.

_"To trespass in the realm of the dead is to is a crime against humanity. It appeals to base obsession that no one is free from. In this, it is unforgivable for its cruelty. Those who read this, know now that it is already too late..."_

–...--

They found her hours later, after the fire had spread across the cathedral and had been subdued. Strangely, her body was not burnt although everything had been reduced to ashes around her.

The cause of death was not burning or asphyxia, a healer revealed. There was no explanation, she told her friends; the girl had just died despite it all.

Many of them were relieved. Most of them were saddened. But what haunted every one of them was that when they found her, there was a smile on her face, making this lost woman look very much like the girl they'd once known.

She had found happiness at last, they said.

And so it was.

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_A/N: Sad... yet the whole thing with Ion was so heartbreakingly sad. I hated that he had to die... that was probably the saddest scene in the entire game... :(_

_Sadness of this fic aside, I hope that you enjoyed it. :) Reviews are very much appreciated-- I do love them. :D_


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